Secret Intimacies
by dodisboy
Summary: When she was a little kid, an accident changed Akane's life for ever. How will react Ranma when he discover her secret intimacies?


Disclaimers:

- Ranma belongs to Rumiko Takashi.

- This story is based on the Fourth Challenge for Greenicedragon1789.

- Please, Read & Review.

- Do you know to draw? Please, email-me. I would like to have illustrations of this story.

* * *

Chapter 1: An unexpected fellow.

The sun began to acquire the reddish tone characteristic of the sunset, when the speakers of the Nerima station announced the arrival of the train. The last notes had just finished sounding, when the train entered the station. The brakes were put into operation, adding his squeal to the typical cacophony of the place. Once the convoy had stopped, the doors of the cars were opened and the exchanging of travelers began.

One of the first to get off was a young woman with short jet black hair, who carried a not very large package under her arm

With her head down and her brown eyes fixed on the ground, she waded through the crowd until arrive at the exit.

To her great relief, nobody recognized her and, thanks in large part to her conservative clothes: white blouse and long blue skirt; nobody noticed her.

After checking that the paper bag wrapped perfectly her purchase, she put it again under her arm and, barely restraining the impulse to run out, she started to walk with a forced gesture.

Akane had lived all her life in this zone of Tokyo, so she was able to avoid the busiest streets and choose the most unexpected alleys, in order to advance tortuously towards her destination.

Finally, the familiar shape of the dojo appeared in front of her.

Every steep that she took by the walkway, her heart beat with more and more strength, until it smothered the rest of sounds.

She recalled that her father had gone out for a few drinks. Correction: to get drunk, with his friend and guest Genma Saotome. Her sister Nabiki and Ranma, Genma's son, were with their respective friends and Kasumi, her older sister, was out too.

Theorically the house was empty. 'Theorically', that was the problem.

Without others choices, Akane entered in the house and close the door gently, trying to make as little noise as possible. She didn't announce her arrival, simply remained in the genkan*, watching.

In the half-light caused by the weak rays of the sunset, the silent house welcomed her.

The young woman allowed herself a long sigh of relief, which freed the air that she had retained unconsciously.

At last, she had achieved it. A little more and she would reach the security of her room with her secret completely safe.

Concentrated in that thought, Akane didn't realize that the door of the guest room had been opened until she crossed in front of it, and almost collided with the young man that exited the room.

The surprise did her drop the bag, which bounced in the floor with a soft noise, before stopping.

On looking down, Akane noticed with horror that the bag had opened, leaving its content in sight. Fearing what going to happen, she closed her eyes.

"A package of... diapers!?"

The astonished voice penetrated in her brain and caused a wave of burning embarrassment that left her frozen.

Akane looked at Ranma with promises of tears in their eyes.

"Yes! She answered with fury. A package of diapers! And do you know why!? Because I still need them!"

She realized that she had said too much, but at that moment it didn't matter to her. She only wanted Ranma to make fun of her, so she could hate him and the warmth of the hatre would cover her embarrassment.

But he didn't laugh.

Once he had recovered from the initial surprise, his expression filled with understanding and tenderness. Understanding and tenderness that Akane misunderstood as pity and sorrow.

In the same moment that she got ready to pronounce words what later she would have regretted, a movement drew her attention.

Ranma has just pulled up his shirt, exposing his belly and showing the unmistakable shape of, yes, a diaper that was poking out the top of his trousers.

When Akane looked up, the young man agreed with a slight nod.

The young woman's relief was indescribable. For the first time in her life, she felt the oppressive weight of her secret being lightened and, throwing herself into his arms, she cried in joy while the young man hugged her inexpertly.

The package of diapers remained in the floor, forgotten.

* * *

Despite having never climbed to the roof of the house, Akane hadn't had great difficulty to get there from the window of her room.

Without worring about the dirt, she sat down with the knees bented facing toward the setting sun.

Their encounter in the corridor had made clear, among other things, that they needed to talk. Thus, they had decided to meet in the roof in fifteen minutes. Plenty of time for her to hide her purchase in the usual place.

Ranma approached on a firm step, wearing the same red Chinese shirt and black trousers. She sought discreetly the tell-tale bulge of the diaper, but his baggy trousers prevented her from finding it.

Upon arriving at her side, he sat down and started playing with his black hair, put up in a long pigtail.

Both of them remained in silence with the hubhub of the city as background, watching as the reddish sun was hiding.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Akane commented.

"Eh?" was the answer of Ranma, who had been deeply lost in thought.

"The sunset," she specified. "It has ever seemed to me very lovely."

The teenager, who had been looking to the horizon without seeing it, paid attention for the first time to the view that spread in front of him.

Over a sea of darkness, punctuated here and there by the lit spots of the streetlights and the windows, floated the roofs covered in blood by the setting sun; a reddish semicircle that sank slowly beneath the horizon. As the clouds and the sky around the sun moved away, they went through the whole palette of colours from orange to dark blue, until merge with the darkness of the night that was descending.

"Yes, it's beautiful," Ranma said.

Not being able to add anything more, he allowed that the conversation died.

The seconds continued passing quietly.

Akane began to turn her head slowly with the intention of steal a glance to her companion; however she found Ranma's blue eyes. Both teenagers quickly looked away and concentrated their eyes on harmless places, while their cheeks turned red as tomatoes.

"Do you know?" Ranma commented with his eyes fixed in the roof. "Now I understand a lot of things about the last week; for example that you are exempt of gymnastics, despite practicing martial arts."

"Yes," Akane confirmed. "You have already seen the female gym uniform, therefore you'll understand that it's impossible to hide anything. If I attended gym class, the whole Furinkan would know about it in an hour and all of Nerima in a day."

"So, do you need them twenty-four-seven?"

When he realized that he had just said, he turned towards the girl aghast and, waving his hands desperately, added:

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I said it without think! It's not necessary that you answer it! Seriously!"

Her lips rose slightly in a small smile.

Someway, she found very cute his way of apologize. Berating herself for getting distracted in such a way when dealing such a serious thing, she decided to focus in the conversation and trust in Ranma.

"Yes," she said softly, but loud enough to hear it without any problem. "The truth is I need them. When I was very small I had an accident, and since then I lost the control of some functions."

"Number two too?" his stunned mouth asked before his brain could step in. When it realised what had happened, it made him cover his mouth, but it was already too late.

Fortunately, Akane was lost in her memories, and the part of her mind that answered automatically didn't find the question filthy. Or perhaps she had decided that, once discovered her secret, it wasn't worth the effort to hide anything.

"I still kept a small control, but… sometimes… accidents happen."

Overwhelmed for so much information, Ranma felt as if his embarrassment had lit a bonfire inside him.

Without noticing his uneasiness, she continued:

"I don't remember what happened, and I only know what my parents and my sisters told me later. Nevertheless, my first memory is a discussion with my mother about the diapers."

* * *

"Don't want to! Don't want to! Don't want to!" Akane shouted time and time again, while she squirmed trying to free herself.

Her mother watched her with sadness while continued holding her arms firmly, so her daughter didn't pull off the diaper that was wearing.

"Calm down, Akane," her mother begged. "Why are you behaving like that? In the hospital you didn't protest so much when that really nice nurse came to put it on you."

"Then I was ill!" the girl explained. "But now I am already well! And the only ones that wear diapers being well are the babies. I am a big girl!"

On hearing the child's reasoning; Kimiko stayed quiet.

The same words that had been used to persuade her daughter, turned now against herself.

How could she explain to her daughter that she had lost the control of part of her body? That one of her greatest achievements had been destroyed? That she will need to wear diapers the rest of her life?

"Mom!" the girl called in a pressing whisper that gathered her mother's scattered attention.

Akane, who had squirmed furiously before, remained still. Her face, flushed before for the effort, had acquired a stronger reddish tonality. Her little mouth closed tightly and her eyes dissolved in tears that looked imploringly, completed a puzzle that only a mother would know how to decipher.

Knowing instinctively what had happened, Kimiko hugged her beloved daughter with all the tenderness of the world, while stroked her hair and whispered soothing words in her ear. Wrapped in her mother's warmth and understanding, Akane unburdened herself with loud cries.

* * *

"I don't know what I would have done then without my mother. It was thanks to her support that I could bear the shame of having to wear diapers again." While Akane talked, her voice began to acquire an evocative tone. It was clear; though her eyes were fixed in the horizon, her gaze was in the past. "She ever downplayed it and treated it as a game. She called it 'our secret'. Little by little I became used to them, and when she died I hardly needed her help. Now, every time that I see the diapers I remember her.

Ranma listened her history attentively. However, deep down he wondered if he was doing the right thing. They had met less than a week ago, and they were talking about their closest secrets. He felt very honoured by it; but, was he really deserving of so much trust?

"You' think that it's silly, don't you?"

"What?" the young man asked distracted.

"That it reminds me of my mother."

"No. In the end both things are very connected."

"I suppose that you are right..."

"By the way, there is something that I wanted to ask you..."

While Ranma approached to ask the question between detours and excuses, Akane closed her eyes and mentally repeated:

'Please, that it not be the morning fights. Please, that it not be the morning fights...'

"... The thing is, don't know, it seems very strange. Why do the guys from your school fight every morning shouting your name?"

She remained silent with closed eyes for so long, that Ranma thought that she hadn't heard him. He got ready to ask the question again, when Akane opened her eyes and answered with great irritation:

"It's Kuno's fault, a second year student. Since I'm exempt of gymnastics, there has always been speculations about my health. One day, out of the blue and in front of the whole school, he stated, and I quote, only the one that could protect such a tender flower might be at her side."

It took Ranma a while to assimilate the answer, and not because he had problems understanding the metaphor.

"Does he really talk that way?"

Akane looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Didn't you hear him these days in the high school?"

"The truth is that I didn't pay too much attention."

"Good for you!"

"By the way, who is Kuno?"

"I'm sure that you have seen him. He always wears a kendogi and carries a bokken."

"Ah, yes! Isn't he the one who always win the fights?"

"Yes," Akane answered offhandedly.

"Then... Is your boyfriend?"

"No!"

Her shout of rage was so powerful that, for a moment, Ranma feared that he had become deaf.

"Sorry," he apologized slightly unnerved.

"It's true that, in his own way, he asked me out; but I always refused."

"Understand."

It was an innocent word, an automatic response to show his attention for the conversation and, in this case, the last thing that Ranma should have said.

"No! You don't understand!" Akane replied, feeling the flames of his anger rekindled. "Do you think that I refused because of my thing? You're wrong! In spite of everything, I still have the right to choose. And I wouldn't be with him if he were the last man on the earth! I have to admit that he's good-looking and I've heard that his family is very rich; but when you've dealt with him once or twice, you realise that he has a high opinion of himself. And, worst of all, he has the mentality of samurai movies."

"Honourable?" Ranma dared to ask.

"Ha! Yes, honourable and retrograde. If it wasn't for the fact that he thinks I have a serious illness, I believe he is capable to beat me in order to be my boyfriend."

Once finished her tirade, her features relaxed.

"Forgive me for telling you off, but I can't stand him."

This time, Ranma decided to keep quiet and not speak again until a reasonable time had passed.

"I suppose that it's my turn to tell you my history."

Akane turned to look at him while he talked.

"In my case it was an accident too, but a training one. On second thoughts, the training was the accident."

Upon seeing the surprise look in her face, the young man tried to explain himself.

"I was five or six year old, when my father found a secret unbeatable technique. The training consisted of throwing the student tied with c... c... a... food to a hole full of c... c... those hungry animals."

The mere attempt to imagine the scene made Akane cover her mouth shocked.

"Who could be able to do something like that!?"

Unfortunately Ranma knew the answer.

"My father," he said with resignation.

* * *

It was a sunny afternoon and the gardens of the hospital were crowded. Almost all the patients who could leave their rooms, had made the most of the good weather to break their confinement.

Some alone; others accompanied by relatives, friends, or even other patients; and a few helped by nurses were walking, sunbathing on benches, or playing a few games of cards or chess. Everybody, without exception, enjoyed their short hours of freedom.

A young father and his son were walking hand in hand along one of the paths. As they passed by, the heads turned to watch them with horror and pity, and the comments in low voice increased.

All of this stir were caused by the kid.

In spite of wearing the slippers, pyjamas and hospital gown; he couldn't hide the bandages that cover almost all his body. The most visible being the one that covered half of his head and one eye.

Nevertheless, Ranma smiled: His wounds hardly hurt anymore; the doctors had assured them, that he wouldn't lose the eye; and, best of all, his father had promised not to throw him covered with food to the pit with hungry cats again.

At his side, Genma smiled too: The doctors had assured him that Ranma wouldn't have sequels; and, best of all, he wouldn't have to face his wife or the terrifying contract they had signed.

Everything was perfect until, by chance, a stray cat with dirty black fur crossed a bush and stopped in the center of the path, a few meters ahead of them.

Genma saw it, didn't pay attention and continued walking. He hadn't even taken two steps, when he noticed that his son's little hand was trembling. On turning around, his heart filled with fear.

His son remained motionless in the same place that when the cat appeared. Ranma's body trembled as a leaf in a gale and, from his open mouth, the same sound escaped, over and over.

"C...c...c..."

His skin was as pale as a corpse, and a torrent of tears flowed from his good eye. The visible parts of his trouser showed wet trails, which slid until the lower edge; from there, small yellow trickles dripped into a puddle. A puddle that had formed between the child's feet and continued spreading.

* * *

Ranma was lying down in his bed, motionless and with the eyes shut; but he didn't sleep. He was awake enough to hear the conversation between his father and the doctor (Something about post raumatics trees), but he didn't intend to get up.

If he didn't get up, nobody would see it; if he didn't move, nobody would hear it; but, whatever he did, he couldn't help but feel it. It was a new feeling – strange, warm, protective, and not at all unpleasant. But he was no longer a baby! He was a big boy!

And nevertheless, he had peed himself in front of everybody two days ago.

Then they had managed to persuade the nurses, however as soon as he had woken up this morning, with the soaked pyjamas and a large yellow stain in the sheets, he had known that he was condemned. He had begged, shouted, cried, kicked, fought… But it had been useless. After giving him a shower, they had dried him, changed his bandages and put a diaper on him.

In spite of his fear, the nurses had neither made fun of, nor humiliated him. They had treated his accident as something normal even had smiled patiently. They had only started acting seriously when they had warned him not to take it off or if not...

Ranma recognized that it hadn't been as bad as he feared, but it continued being humiliating. He wasn't a baby!

However...

He lowered his hand, slipped it inside the pyjama trousers, and caressed the smooth and soft diaper's surface.

"Good morning, Ranma," a voice called him. "How are you feeling today?"

The child opened his eyes and found the doctor's smiling face a few centimetres from his own.

Surprised, he took his hand out of his pants in a hurry and turned red, as if he had been caught doing a mischief.

"I am not a baby!" he answered with tearful eyes.

"Of course not!" the doctor replied with a serious but kind tone. "You are a big boy, aren't you?"

Ranma nodded, unconfident.

"B...but they had put me in diapers and I'm not a baby. I don't want be a baby!" He yelled anxiously.

The doctor took a clean handkerchief out of his white coat, and dry the tears which flowed by the kid's cheeks.

"Do you think that only babies wear diapers?" he asked compassionately.

"Yes," was Ranma's weak answer.

"You must know that they are kids of your age and older, who need to wear them; including adults as your father."

The child's eyes widened in surprise and his jaw dropped in disbelief.

"We all know that you're not a baby," the doctor continued reassuringly. "When you fell into that hole and were attacked by the cats attacked, you got scared so, so, so badly, that it left a very strong impression in your mind. Now, every time that something reminds you what happened, your mind lose the control of your body. Do you understand?"

Ranma needed a while to understand the words of the doctor, but when he did it his decision was immediate.

"My mind is stupid! I don't want it! I want a mind that doesn't wet itself!"

The innocence of his words made smile to the doctor, who answered very seriously.

"Unfortunately, as of today that isn't possible."

"¡Oooooh!"

Visibly disappointed, the boy hung his head on the verge of tears. Gently pushing his chin with a finger, the doctor forced him to raise his head again.

"The good news is that we can teach your mind not to be so afraid and keep the control of your body."

The red eyes and the trace of the tears didn't prevent that his little face brightened as the sunrise on hearing those words.

"And won't I need diapers?"

"You have my word."

Hope bloomed in the kid's heart; a big, beautiful, strong-stemmed flower.

The doctor, who believed his duty no give false hope to the patients, continued:

"I must warn you that it can be a slow process."

Ranma nodded. In the euphoria of the moment he felt capable to wear diapers during a few weeks, or even the huge period of one month.

"It doesn't matter. I'll take it like a man."

"That's a good boy," the doctor approved with satisfaction, while mussed up his patient's hair, leaving it messier than before.

* * *

Ranma still smiled remembering the scene, when he heard Akane's voice.

"Did it work?"

"Yes, more or less."

The next question took longer and, when it arrived, it was in a slow, faltering, dubious way.

"Then, do you really need to wear them or...?"

The young woman couldn't finish uttering the words, nonetheless the question was clear to both teenagers; Proof of this was the blush that brought to their faces.

Ranma hesitated.

The question was very personal and he had never discussed this subject with anybody. However… Weren't they being honest with each other? Hadn't he thought to mention it to anybody, even if it was his father, and make less oppressive the burden of his secret? Now was the best moment! What would she do? Laugh? Of course no! But it could be worse, she would think he was a freak, he was crazy, he was… could understand. At any rate, who better than her to understand him? Or to think that he was making fun of her problem…

He made a decision.

"I would lie if I say that I don't find them pleasant, but the truth is that I still need them."

Well, it would be enough, by now.

"Didn't you say that the therapy had worked?"

"Not quiet. I don't p... have problems of that type if I see a c... c... t... hairy creature with nails." 'Unless they're a lot or get too close, but it's other problem.'

The last sentence didn't pass the censure of his own mind, therefore Ranma continued quickly before Akane noted the pause.

"But only during the day. Sometimes I have nightmares at night and, well, it's nice to know that I'll awake in a dry bed the next morning."

"And, what have the doctors told to you?"

"That in a future… Perhaps when my body matures…"

His sceptic tone made very clear his opinion regarding the prognosis of the doctors.

Both teenagers were silent, keeping each other company while the sun finished disappearing over the horizon and began to discern weakly the first stars.

"It's curious, right? We met less than a week ago and I'm telling you things that I had never said to anybody," Ranma confided to her.

"I understand what you mean. My family know it, of course, even though my father and Nabiki act as if nothing happened. My two best friends know it too." 'But not all,' a part too dark of her mind to be her conscience, reminded her.

She tried to smother the embarrassing voice, but it was impossible.

Certainly, she didn't tell everything to anybody. She only had dared to relate her fantasies to Kasumi, when the pressure had been too much and she feared going mad. Thank goodness, her sister had been very comprehensive. Nevertheless, she didn't talk with anybody about the other thing. They had promised each other to explain their stories, but how could she be able to relate that? He would think she was a freak, she was crazy, she was… No! She couldn't tell him!

'Ha! The strait-laced Akane is a hypocrite,' her mind voice reproached.

A voice whom she couldn't lie and that knows all her secrets, because it was herself; and one can't lie to oneself.

Perhaps it was the stress or perhaps it has no connection, but in that moment she noticed a feeling, familiar and feared at the same time.

Grateful that an excuse to be able to end the conversation had appeared, she rose. It was such a sudden movement that Rama stared at her puzzled.

"Is something wrong?" he asked with genuine concern.

She stood in the dark with droopy arms, the hands clasped at the height of her waist and the face burning heads in shame, while trying to put together a coherent sentence.

"I... I'm sorry... It... Thing is... something came... urgent... have to go... I'm sorry," Akane babbled.

Ranma had never been good at mathematics, but in this case he hasn't any problem to realize that two plus two are four.

"I understand. Don't worry" he said while getting up and slapping the seat of his trousers to try to clean them a bit. "Do you want that I help you – Akane's heart skipped a beat – to go down?"

"Eh! Ah, yes! Yes, of course. Thanks."

And, while both teenagers walked to the edge of the roof, Akane wondered why she felt slightly disappointed.

TBC...

* * *

*Genkan: Traditional Japanese entryway areas for a house, apartment, or building. The primary function of _genkan_ is for the removal of shoes before entering the main part of the house or building (Wikipedia).


End file.
